LETTER: Overcrowding is a critical issue at Diman

Friday

Jan 17, 2014 at 5:26 PMJan 17, 2014 at 5:49 PM

It is evident now more than ever that overcrowding is a prevalent issue in our school systems. Only a decade earlier classroom sizes ranged from 10 to 30 to a classroom now on average classroom sizes 20 to 30 students. One prime example of this issue is the classroom sizes at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School.

It is evident now more than ever that overcrowding is a prevalent issue in our school systems. Only a decade earlier classroom sizes ranged from 10 to 30 to a classroom now on average classroom sizes 20 to 30 students. One prime example of this issue is the classroom sizes at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School.

Every year, the administration accepts a larger amount of freshman students into the school. Originally, in 1968, Diman was designed to hold approximately 360 students and it was an all boys school. Today, the total of students at Diman rings in at approximately 1,400 with the addition of girls coming in 1973. It is no secret that the more students a school has, the more funding it will receive.

However, overcrowding is becoming a severe issue and is hampering students' learning potential. Diman's motto is "to develop the unique potential of each learner." However, students' "unique potential" is being hampered by the fact students no longer receive one on one attention from their teachers and overcrowding leads to peer pressure and uncomfortable learning environments.

This is an issue that must be addressed promptly either by lowering the number of students accepted each year or by expanding our facilities, the more feasible being to lower our acceptance numbers. I also strongly believe that Diman, in particular, lost its original focus instilled by its founder, the Rev. John Diman, to be a "trade school."

Diman was designed to be a school where students who couldn't afford to go to college could go to learn a trade and enter the work force. Now, students are basically being forced into college and are failing courses that you typically would not find at a trade school.

I feel that John Diman would be extremely displeased with the way the school has turned out to be. I strongly feel that upon entry into Diman, students should be given the option as to whether they want to go on to college or if they are there strictly for a trade. I feel Diman has gone way off track from what it was intended to be and something must be done in order to bring back the school that John Diman envisioned.